The middle of summer finds stone fruits such as peaches at the peak of their season and both plentiful and inexpensive. Go pick up some peaches and make this naturally sweet, refreshing tea. If you have been growing fresh mint in your home or yard, this is a great time to use it! Basil would be an interesting and tasty substitute for the mint. Add raspberries or any other berry for some extra color and flavor. Vary the ingredients of this tea with nectarines, any variety of peaches, apricots, plums, or their hybridized combinations. Whichever fruits you find fresh and in-season can make an interesting, unique and energizing beverage. Feel free to double or triple this recipe for a party, and serve with a few floating peaches for a refreshing snack. Your guests will be talking about this recipe for a long time.
Ingredients (Serves 4)
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4 cups boiling water
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3 bags green tea
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2 ripe peaches, pitted and 1/4″ thick slices
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1 small bunch mint, approximately 5 stems 5” long
1. Bring water to a boil and place tea bags in a heatproof pitcher. Add 4 cups of just boiled water to the pitcher and steep for 10 minutes. Remove and discard tea bags, and allow the tea to cool to room temperature.
2. When cooled, add the peaches and the mint to the tea.
3. You may find this tea to have just the right amount of sweetness for your taste. If you prefer additional sweetness, consider adding a zero-calorie sweetener to maintain the same low-calorie benefit of this tea. Adding a sweetener such as maple syrup, sugar, brown sugar, or agave, to name a few, will add about 20 calories per teaspoon. This will likely give you a sweetened drink that has fewer calories than a commercially prepared tea.
4. Remember, drinking this tea over ice, especially crushed ice, dilutes the drink to further reduce the calories and increases the amount of water that you drink.
